The Deepwater Horizon Speech Reax, Ctd

For whatever it's worth, I'm a native of and currently live in
Louisiana, about 20 miles outside of New Orleans. My
dad is a Cajun river rat in the truest sense, born and raised in
Southeastern Louisiana. His father's native language is Cajun French --
literally, he had to learn English as a boy. My dad has never fished
commercially, but it defines his out-of-work, weekend persona -- it
dominates his spare time. He often talks about a dream life living in a
shack somewhere out in the marsh, fishing all day. He's a product of the
cultural fabric of southeastern Louisiana.

My dad comes home from work these days depressed
about the oil spill. He thinks about it all damn day, and, like many
here, he has no shortage of outrage at everyone involved in this mess.

When Obama pivoted to his remarks about "The Blessing of the
Fleet," my dad started crying.

He's not someone who is going to give you
a nuanced opinion about politics or policy -- in fact, he's relatively
apolitical -- but he knows what he knows.

Maureen Dowd can talk all she wants about
these amorphous, nebulous standards like a "Clint Eastwood moment" or
whatever, and Anderson Cooper is free to think he knows the people here
better than anyone because he's been here for a few weeks, but Obama
connected with my dad last night -- of that I can be sure. And trust me,
my dad isn't exactly a pushover.

I have more trust in the sanity and common sense of Americans on this than many of my fellow pundits.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.